What I love and why I love it -- mainly classic stars and movies of the golden age. Backstories, links, sidelights -- details like these increase your enjoyment of classic films. What do they say to us now? Who were we then, and how did we solve our problems? What did we believe -- and what have we forgotten?

Blog Archive

09 April 2015

Alan Howard - What An Actor Should Be

"Once more into the breech, my friends ..."

I was really
saddened to find out about the death of Alan Howard. True, he didn't look well
in the last few appearances of his that I've seen, and he was 77 years old. But
that doesn't seem very old to me anymore.

I saw him in the
best live performance of a Shakespeare play (or live performance of anything,
come to think of it) I have ever seen, the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Henry V
that came to New York and ran at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a few weeks.
(Could it have been 1976? Yes, it was; a Bicentennial present for us all!)

It has to be
admitted that sometimes the RSC sends its second-stringers over here, perhaps
rightly thinking that we won't know the difference. But this production was
different -- it was the best. Every single actor was simply perfect, and they
were at the top of their game. The emphasis was on characters and ideas, not
pageantry; the costumes were not particularly showy and the settings were
simple indications of place, not elaborate structures.

But the acting!
Every character, every line, every word, every thought, was fully imagined and
rigorously clear. You can get an idea of the process these talented and
hard-working people take part in in the television series Playing Shakespeare,
which is currently available both on dvd and streaming through Acorn. You see
actors who are physically and mentally wholly committed to their wondrous art
--

What demonstrates
what human beings are better than drama? And I mean that in the broadest sense.
How did helpless little animals like us, so sadly lacking in tooth, claw, and
fur, develop the exquisitely delicate communication we take so much for granted?
The ability to understand what another is thinking and feeling?

And, like our other
skills, we love to exercise this one, to
the extent of making up stories, listening to stories, acting out
stories, writing down stories -- stories can be better than real life. They can
take the place of real life.

But for some,
stories are real life -- those whose insight and expressive abilities are far
beyond the average human. Artists. We instinctively value these people; how much richer are we all for the hard work of
musicians, actors, artists of all kinds!

Alan Howard came
from a creative background; Leslie Howard was his uncle, Ronald Howard his
cousin, Sir Compton McKenzie his great uncle. But all the background in the
world can't make you an artist -- only what's inside can do that. And this man
spent a lifetime on serious work -- stage,
screen, and television,
production after production. By the age of 25 he was getting major roles in the
West End and in classical plays. He joined the RSC during perhaps its most
productive decade, and took part in one blockbusting production after another
-- Twelfth Night, The Revenger's Tragedy, Doctor Faustus, Much Ado About
Nothing, Gorky's Enemies, Wild Oats, The Man Of Mode -- what a life for an
actor!

When he came to the
US with Henry V, he was a star , true; but the play was a dream of ensemble
work. That is, to the viewer, I hasten to add; I have no idea if there was
unrest behind the scenes or not -- I only know what it was like from the front.
It was glorious.

He left the RSC
eventually, but the rest of his career presents a similar picture -- production
after production, year after year, from
enduring classics to avant-garde experiment, some funny, some tragic, some thrilling.
His work was showing human beings how to understand each other.

In Waiting for Godot, with Ben Kingsley

In later years he
could be seen in popular British tv exports like Foyle's War and Midsomer
Murders. And among his final projects
was the "voice" of the ring in The Lord of the Rings series!

I lived in England
for a few years, and I saw Howard on the underground once. His hair was red-blond,
and he looked very fit and limber, and had a big shoulder bag stuffed with what
were probably research materials for a role -- an artist at work. No one bothered
him, because the Brits have so many great actors lying around that you can't
skip a stone without hitting one. But I was thrilled.

Compared with other artists, goodness knows, he had a long life, and he certainly had a richly accomplished one. But I wish it had been longer.